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Everyone wants that special treat for themselves the one they love on Valentine’s, right? Treat yourself and anyone else around you with these giant chocolate raspberry treats. They’re sugar-free, keto-friendly, and delicious. Here’s how to make them.

After you’ve made the chocolate, pour the chocolate into a mold, using just enough to coat the molds. Flip it upside down onto a cooling rack with a pan underneath, allowing the excess chocolate to drip out. Let it harden completely, then coat it a second time and flip the molds.
I used FlexiPan, but if you don’t have one, just leave the chocolate to cool slightly. We’ll make truffles and come back to it later in the recipe.

Ganache:
Mix equal parts dark chocolate with equal parts warmed heavy cream. I heated 300g heavy cream in a saucepan, careful not to scald. Take off the heat, break up 300g dark chocolate, and stir until blended. Set aside to cool.

Raspberry Cheesecake filling:
Place 225g cream cheese into a bowl and set aside.
In a blender, mix 250ml heavy cream, 85g honey, and 65g fresh raspberries, or about ½ cup. Blend for a few seconds, until the ingredients are mostly combined and the cream has thickened. Fold into the cream cheese.

Method:
Once the second layer of chocolate is set, spoon a little raspberry cream into the mold and seal it to the edges of the chocolate. Leave enough room to add a layer of ganache and melted chocolate in the mold. Chill to harden slightly.
Then, layer the ganache on top of the raspberry cream. Chill, then top with a final layer of the cooled dark chocolate, making the base as smooth as possible. Chill in the fridge until the chocolate has set.

The chocs should pop out of the molds carefully. If you have any trouble, place your hands on the top of the molds to warm and loosen from the mold. The chocolate has a very low melt point, so it will melt very easily.

If you don’t have a FlexiPan or a mold, You can make truffles!
Chill the ganache and the raspberry cream for a few hours. Once chilled, use a tablespoon measure and roll into balls. If you’re feeling really fancy, roll the raspberry into balls and freeze them only until solid. Roll the ganache into a thin round and wrap it around the raspberry cream ball. Then, using a fork or a toothpick, dip the ball into the cooled, melted chocolate and set aside to harden. Decorate as you like: Roll in desiccated coconut, finely chopped nuts, or dust with cinnamon and cocoa powder.

Sugar highs and food comas this Christmas? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. With the New Year looming around the corner and tins of candies and sweets still half full under the tree, it might seem too premature to think about lifestyle overhauls and extreme fitness regimes for your New Year’s resolutions. Don’t worry! This is the New Year’s Lite version: you don’t have to reconstruct a version of your life to live every January 1! Here are 10 easy ways you can begin to make positive changes throughout 2018.

1. Wake Up Well

We all know that a strong morning routine really sets us up for the day. But did you know that your bedtime routine is equally important, if not moreso? This nighttime routine is called Sleep Hygiene. Resting your brain as well as avoiding certain foods and stimuli are the keys to having a successful day. Here are some practical things you can do:

Avoid screen time at least one hour before bed. That means no more scrolling through Facebook in bed!

Avoid caffeine, rich, and spicy foods before bed. These can act as stimuli as well as cause indigestion.

Try to get to bed at roughly the same time every night. This helps to train your body clock to drop into your sleep rhythm quickly, maximising your quality of sleep!

2. Sip Smart — The Importance of Clever Hydration

First of all, we need to de-bunk the idea that 8 glasses of water each day is necessary. There’s no research to prove it, however, keeping hydrated is a serious matter. Which is why how we drink is as important as what and how much we drink.

If you gulp your water quickly, it might feel good after a workout, a salty food, or in the morning when your mouth is parched, your body is less able to absorb the gulps than if you sip. Gulping causes the water to pass through your body quickly, leaving less time for absorption. Sipping water allows your body to hydrate fully, and is less likely to give you cramps. If remembering to drink throughout the day is difficult for you, try setting alarms to remind you. Or link your hydration in with the next step!

3. Pause Productively

Getting the right work-to-break ratio can benefit you and your workday. Research says that for every hour you are sitting, the last 15 minutes should be a break. Get up, stretch your legs, distract your brain — even drink a few sips of water! The exercise is good for your body, and the mental break from your desk is good for your brain. Your productivity will increase and your waistline might even decrease!

4. Protect with Probiotics

We’ve all heard about the importance of probiotics. But it’s more than protecting yourself from embarrassing flatulence or making sure you are digesting your food well. Science has called the gut a “second brain.” The enteric nervous system in the gut communicates with the bacteria inside the gut, and 90% of these cells carry information to the brain, not from the brain. We really are what we eat: as our gut communicates to our brain, the messages from that bacteria, whether good or bad, influence our moods. Be sure to eat wholesome, natural foods and take plenty of fermented probiotics, like kefir, kombucha, or even foods like kimchi.

5. Mind Your Mind

Mindfulness was the trending hashtag of 2017, but for a very good reason! More and more, people are realising the benefits of slowing life down and appreciating the now. Mindfulness is the practice of quieting your mind and being still. Some do a very light version, others recite mantras, while others listen to a guided meditation. One easy way to get started is to clear a space and set the timer for 5-10 minutes. Either sit down or lie down, close your eyes, and listen to your breathing. Try not to think about anything in particular, just be aware of the environment around you and the sound of your own breath. If you’re struggling to focus, or feel that mantras are too hocus-pokus for you, there’s an app called HeadSpace that talks you through how to quiet down. My husband and my kids use it — I usually fall asleep!

6. Swap the Sweets

By now, we should all know that sugar is linked to weight gain and diabetes. But there are more nasties that lie behind the candy stripes. Here are a few more reasons to wipe the white stuff from your diet:

Sugar raises blood pressure, cholesterol, and risk of heart attack.

Sugar can impair cognitive function and reduce proteins that are necessary for memory and responsiveness. It also lowers BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), which puts sugar-eaters at greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s and Dementia.

High-sugar diets are more likely to cause you to suffer from asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is the third leading cause of death in the U.S.

Here is a cheeky alternative to the sweet stuff, but is equally indulgent: Healthy Dark Chocolate. It’s velvety smooth and delicious!

7. Keeping Up With the KCals:

So many New Year’s diet plans focus on cutting calories and opting for light alternatives. But these light alternatives are light on the health as well. Where fats and calories are slashed, sugars and additives are increased, making your “healthy” option a serving of rubbish! Why not try to focus less on cutting calories and aim to consume more nutrient-dense calories instead? If you’re cutting things like sugar out already, add a few nutrient dense foods like:

Here’s a test: exhale completely. Place your hands over your belly button. Take a big breath in. Does your belly button expand? Mine doesn’t. My breath stops at my diaphragm. I’m a shallow-breather and this is why that’s not a good thing:

Shallow breathing has been linked to increased anxiety and raised blood pressure, as well as preventing oxygen to reach the lowest portion of the lungs, where blood vessels that carry oxygen to the cells are found.

Deep breathing has been called the foundation of health. Here’s how to help yourself breathe better.

Check your posture. Make sure you are sitting or standing tall. This allows your breath to reach the lower lungs easily.

Breathe in slowly, relaxing your shoulders and expanding your abdomen naturally. Think of how you breath when you are almost asleep — slow, heavy, full.

If you are going to try mindfulness this year, deep breathing is a great technique to practice with it!

9. Teach an Old Dog a New Trick

This is the art of distraction: glean the benefits of learning a new hobby or skill this year! The pace of life seems to be increasing at alarming rates. Studies have shown that with the high levels intensity you might face at work, drive that stress and energy into a hobby. Not only is simple, inconsequential productivity good for your brain and emotions, it is also beneficial for your productivity at work. When we have something to distract our minds, our subconscious continues to work without the pressure of producing results in the conscious state. Ever wonder why you suddenly have the answer to a problem the next morning after a long sleep? This is the same thing. So stop living vicariously through your Pinterest boards and Netflix binges and get out there and enjoy your life!

10. You Do You

Lastly, Don’t sign up to a health regime or diet plan if it doesn’t work for you. Pick and choose from this list. Find your balance and make healthy changes that work for you!

I know we’re late in the game on this one, but what’s Christmas without a little bit of chaos, right? Don’t panic if you’ve already got your stuffing or dressing sorted. Stuffing is not merely a side dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, but a delicious addition to the stick-to-your-ribs dinners that the cold, short winter days invite. This is such an easy dish to make, and this recipe will add a special warmth to any dinner you pair with it. Whether made into a loaf or as loose stuffing, I hope you will enjoy this as much as I do!

In a large roasting tray, coat the beets and persimmons in oil, seasoning lightly with salt, pepper, and a dash of nutmeg. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan. You will use this pan to eventually combine most of the ingredients, so ensure it has a high enough wall to hold it all. Brown the sausage meat, being careful to break up the meat well.

Once browned, add the onions and saute until becoming translucent. Tip in the carrots and celery and saute for another 5-6 minutes.

Stir in the chestnuts, sage, nutmeg, orange zest, butter, and cranberries. After mixing well, fold in the breadcrumbs. For a moister stuffing, or to make a stuffing loaf or balls, many people add a pint of stock to the stuffing at this stage.

Once combined, add the stuffing mixture to the roasted beets and persimmons and stir gently until combined. Taste the stuffing mixture to ensure the seasoning is to your liking and then place the tray back into the oven, finishing off for another 25-30 minutes, or until the breadcrumbs are just toasted nicely. If roasting as a loaf, bake in a loaf pan for 45 minutes or until heated thoroughly and crisped on top. Stuffing balls should take 30 minutes.

Tonight starts the prep for my one week vegan/vegetarian keto diet experiment. As some of you know, I follow a moderate ketogenic diet along with my husband, as it has been helpful at managing his epilepsy [Here is a journal article about the benefits of the keto diet on not only epilepsy, but many other heath conditions as well]. Although I completely love meat, I also love vegetables, beans, and grains, and could easily enjoy meat-free recipes many days of the week. Also, I think varying any diet’s intake is healthy for the body and fun for the tastebuds.

Herein lies my difficulty.

After seeing so many delicious vegan/vegetarian recipes, I’ve had to bypass them for fat-filled and [animal] protein-filled meals to fit in with our keto diet. But. I. Love. A. Challenge. So, for dinners only, I decided to try out a vegan/vegetarian keto diet for a week to see how practical it is to follow under keto specifications, and to encourage others if they are interested in keeping up a high fat-low carb lifestyle without meat. And I’m starting tomorrow…!

We’ll be making fajitas with a base of mushrooms, aubergines, paneer, and walnuts. Recipe and ingredients will be provided tomorrow — please check back in! I’m away now to eat my weight in meat!

We are now well into three years of our 10-year whole-living health and wellness plan. Part of this plan includes cutting out processed foods, eradicating synthetic chemicals and dangerous cleaning solutions from our home, making food from scratch, incorporating healthy routines in food & exercise, AND….. No. More. Sugar.
I had a great moment with my five year-old daughter a few days ago after explaining to her the dangers of bleached foods and of sugar, specifically, as diabetes runs strong in my family. She then, by her own volition, binned the caramel square and diluted orange juice drink someone had bought for her on an afternoon out together. I was so proud! My three year-old followed suit and then wallowed in self pity and grieved over the sweet treats in the bin. Hopefully it will be a step in the right direction for him someday. It’s tough to break away from those feel-good sweet treats, especially when you’re three, let alone 33!

Sugar is so deliciously addictive! In light of the new sugar tax on drinks, and especially because it’s Easter weekend, I thought I’d share my husband’s favourite recipe: Dark Chocolate Bark. Hopefully this recipe can curb your sugar cravings and put down that [insert brand name here]’s sugar-laden, preservative-filled egg!
Now, unless you are a master chocolatier and have molds etc. lying around to makes eggs, chicks, and bunnies, a small baking sheet will suffice. [Spoiler alert: It’s called Bark because I break it up once it’s set. That’s about as creative as I can get with this stuff.] On with the recipe!

You’ll need a few things before you start:

A pot 1/3 filled of freshly boiled water & a glass bowl to sit snugly over the top of the pot [This is called a Bain Marie or a water bath.]

1 cup coconut oil [Optional. I found this a superfluous ingredient to the outcome of the chocolate.]

1/8 to 1/4 cup honey

Any dried fruit, nuts, or other toppings you like to dress the chocolate

Method

In the Bain Marie, melt the cacao butter, whisking occasionally until completely melted.

This would be the time to add coconut oil, if you choose to use it. Melt into the cacao butter until incorporated and completely melted.

Add in the cocoa powder and stir until smooth.

Stir in the honey to taste. I prefer it sweeter, so I like 1/4 cup. My husband prefers the taste quite bitter and dark, so he only takes two tablespoons. Be careful not to add any more than 1/4 cup of honey – the consistency of the chocolate will change, making it harder to set.

Pour the melted chocolate into a baking tray and decorate with dried fruits and nuts. We do everything from salted peanuts and raisins to pistachios, dried strawberries, figs, seeds, mixed nuts, and goji berries.

Set the baking tray on an even surface in the refrigerator for approximately 30 minutes, or until set.

Once hardened, use a butter knife to gently break the chocolate into shards. The chocolate will begin to melt if left out of the refrigerator for too long, so either eat it up quickly or put it back in the fridge!

Enjoy!

You can choose to add flavours to the chocolate by adding a few drops of flavoured oils or the zest of an orange.

I’ve used a baster to divide the chocolate into a mini-muffin tin to make little chocolate buttons with fruit, nuts, and seeds. This is a bit more time consuming, but looks beautiful as a gift or for a party. Let the chocolate stand at room temperature for 3-4 minutes before popping out of the molds, bag them up, then store in the refrigerator until ready to eat. Similarly, you can dip fruits into the chocolate and set on baking paper in the fridge until set. The bitterness and smoothness of the chocolate contrasts the sweetness of the fruits perfectly!

This is a great dish to enjoy in the dead of winter or in the cool breeze of lazy summer nights. It is a hearty, warming recipe that is sure to fill your belly on a cool night, but is still light and fresh enough to invite dreams of the approaching springtime. My husband and I are not big fans of most curries, but this one was so fresh and citrus-y that it has easily become a favourite and a great go-to dinner when we need a quick option to pull together. And our three-year-old son loves it! Our five-year-old daughter? Not so much, but only because she thinks mussels look weird. It’s a ¾ family favourite then. We give her some cod with the curry sauce and she likes that. More on that below.

*Warning!* I like to blend my own spice mixes… But without “traditional” forms of measuring. To be totally honest, I’m not good at following instructions or measuring accurately. I call it creative license. I make my own curry powder mix that my family likes. In the recipe below, you can use the pre-mixed spices and seasonings, or at the bottom of the recipe, find my spice ingredient list and try that. Whatever mix you choose to use, this is a delicious, healthy dinner that can be pulled together in 45 minutes.

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil [rapeseed, coconut, ghee…any good fat you desire!]

1 red onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce*

2 tsp curry powder*

2 limes, diced

1 tbsp coconut oil

400g coconut milk

2 tbsp coconut butter [some supermarkets sell it as Block Coconut if you can’t find coconut butter or don’t make it yourself]

150g mangetout

150g broccoli florets

150g cauliflower florets

250g raw, peeled king prawns

250g mixed seafood [we use squid, mussels, & mini prawns]

400g dry green lentils

coriander leaves to garnish [optional]

Method

Rinse and drain 400g green lentils. Cover with water [water should be 5cm above the surface of the lentils] and cook for 45 minutes or until tender. Skim off any foam that might rise to the surface and top up the water as needed. When cooked, drain, rinse, and set aside.

While the lentils are cooking, heat oil in a large pan. Sauté onion until soft; add garlic, chilli, coconut butter, and curry seasoning. Stir to blend and cook for a few minutes.

Blend the lime, coconut oil, and coconut milk in a blender until as smooth as possible. Add to the pan and stir.

Add the seafood and cauliflower; stir, cover, and simmer for 7 minutes or until prawns are pink and cooked through.

Add mangetout and broccoli. Cook to desired crispness – I prefer very crisp, so I cook anywhere between 45 seconds and 1:30, depending on the size of the florets.

Spoon lentils onto a serving dish and top with the curry and garnish with fresh coriander.

Enjoy!

Additional Notes|Substitutions

A Mojito is lovely with this!

The last time we made this, we bulked up the curry with two fillets of cod thrown into the pan 10 minutes before serving. It broke up nicely in the milky sauce, while still being firm enough to retain its shape and texture. If you don’t like mixed seafood, you can easily substitute with nice, firm fish fillets.

Rice with a bit of desiccated coconut and coriander is delicious with this! We don’t make rice often, as we are doing low-carb eating.

Curry powder substitute: mix these ingredients in decreasing quantities. I estimate every time, based on how much I like the spices and what the other flavours in the recipe are. It’s not very exact, but then again, I’m not a very exact person. Remember, more of the first ingredient and decreasing to the smallest amount of the last ingredient.

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and it’s a great idea to start looking up recipes to cook for your date. But in the throes of [cooking] passion, it’s easy to over-season a new dish with a bit too much spice.
But, there is a way of ensuring there isn’t too much heat in the kitchen so you can get hot and heavy outside of the kitchen.

If you have over-spiced your dish and your love life is depending upon the success of this one meal, don’t panic! Stop and think. If you can identify the heated culprit, you can easily tone down the spice to a palatable taste and save Valentine’s Day! I mean, your dinner. You have three main options to help tone down the heat: water, fats/oils, and alcohol. Sugar and other ingredients can help to distract from the heat, but won’t necessarily lessen the heat. Find your overindulging ingredient below and get fixing!

Black Pepper: This is one of the mildest and most common spice ingredients. Water and fat won’t do much to touch the heat here. Try a splash of alcohol and you will save the pepper flavour, but lose the burning heat.

Ginger, Onions & Garlic: These foods produce a spicy “bite” that is less heat-hot and more stingingly hot. The best way to soften the burn of too much ginger is to cook it down. Water will help but will also dilute any other flavours already in your dish, so be prepared to season again, but do so carefully and very slowly! Cook down the ginger until your desired taste then build up your flavours again.
Onion & garlic break down the best in a combination of both alcohol and fats. Add a splash of alcohol and a drizzle of oil, and that roaring bite will soften to become a complex, delicate blend of flavours that will compliment your dish well.

HOT Peppers! These are the big mambas! Their heat is quick and strong. If you’ve ever had a momentary lapse in judgement, being egged on by ego and friends, and have eaten a hot chilli on a dare, you’ll attest that the jug of water you gulped down after did absolutely not a thing to touch the unrelenting venom coursing through your digestive tract. It’s the same in cooking. Water will dilute your sauce, but preserve the spicy fire. Oil fats are best for lessening this heat, either in whole pepper form or the dried, powdered version. Sugar can also help to distract from the ear-burning heat, but fat will actually take a bit of the heat away. These peppers are make or break for your Valentine’s dinner! The right amount of heat is exhilarating and satisfying; too much and the date is over for both of you to spend the rest of the night on the toilet with a bottle of Rennie’s.

So that’s it! The fate of your future love life lies in your kitchen… And if it’s beyond repair, bin it all and order in a Chinese!

With busy schedules and cheap, convenient food, lunchtime can quickly become less of a meal and more of filling a need. If you aren’t able to carve out a bit of time to stop and enjoy a bite to eat, then, at the very least, I can help with inspiring some healthy, quick, and easy lunchtime options.

All of these ideas can be adapted to meat-free by substituting with legumes, pulses, and/or seeds and nuts to up your proteins to keep you energised and active until dinner time!

Salad Topper
This is the usual lunch menu Monday through Friday at our house. We sandwich a spoonful or two of this mix between fresh kale or spinach and some fresh fish and dress with cracked pepper, extra virgin olive oil [EVOO], and lemon juice.
Twice per week, chop, grate, and shred carrots, cucumber, cooked beetroot, scallion, avocado, celery, tomatoes, bell peppers, olives, pickles, mushroom, broccoli, radish……You get the idea. Any and all veg you have on hand can be tossed into a large bowl. The key to this salad is the variety of taste, colour, and texture. Get a good mix in there, add some seeds, nuts, and even some dried or fresh fruit like oranges, apple slices, grapes, or berries. Because of the variance of what’s in the fridge, this salad is anything but monotonous. Be adventurous and treat your taste buds to a wonderful variety!
And if you have a little extra time, try slow roasting some mushrooms, carrot batons, broccoli, red onion, garlic cloves, and pepper and add a few of those in to your salad for some complexity of flavour and texture. The onion and garlic especially become sweet and delicious – not at all sharp and pungent like when eaten raw! Roast the garlic it in its paper drizzled in oil and pop it out once cooked. It won’t stink you up like raw garlic does!

Raw Bento Box
This lunch is perfect for busy workdays, commuting, lazy weekends, lunch with friends, picnics, kids lunches….It’s pretty much perfect all the time and every where!
Take your favourite fruit and veg and slice, dice, and chop. Compartmentalising the box looks neat and beautiful and satisfies those of us with OCD helps keep the food pieces separate so you can grab and go, or makes it perfect for sharing. Bring some boiled eggs, nuts, cheese, or charcuterie to spice things up a bit. We sometimes add in some pittas or crispbread and mash an avocado to use as a creamy spread and then top with various veggies and cheeses.

Tuna Salad
Mash an avocado with lemon juice and pepper. Chop and add in cooked beets, carrots, bell pepper, onion, celery, tomato, broccoli, edamame, coriander, chilli pepper, and mix. Top with baby sprouts and enjoy!
Drizzle with rapeseed oil or EVOO to loosen the mixture, or add a dollop of mayonnaise if you prefer it more creamy. Substitute in a plethora of mixed beans, quinoa, and legumes for tuna to make this a meat-free lunchtime option.

These are just three of the raw lunches we rotate here. We like these because they can be made in advance, are low prep time, and are so tasty and healthy! So, even if you can’t stop and nurture your soul during the day with a time of rest while you eat, now you can eat least nourish your body in a short amount of time!

I got this book as a Christmas gift from my brother in law and it was one of the best gifts I got this year! It is a treasure trove of interesting foodie information and beautiful design. And one of the ramifications of growing up as the daughter of a writer and all-around creative is that any book I would even consider picking up must be beautiful in both content and aesthetics.

This book is just that.

The perfect shape + the perfect sauce = the geometry of pasta

Written by Caz Hildebrand and Jacob Kenedy & published by Boxtree in 2010, I couldn’t help but wonder where has this book been for the past six years??The Geometry of Pasta has the visually aesthetic appearance of a monochromatic cover that evokes a great expectancy of beautiful and simple content… and it does not disappoint!

The book hits all the basics that you’d expect in a food book – recipes for pasta dough, sauce recipes, and how much salt to add to boiling water. Hildebrand and Kenedy then proceed to take the reader on an exploration of various pasta forms, where they originated from, how to make the pasta, and accompanying sauces that not only dress the pasta suitably, but make the dish exceptional. The information is punctuated beautifully with simple, yet beautiful black and white graphic illustrations with just the right amount of detail and simplification of form.

The Geometry of Pasta is the perfect fusion of functionality and the art of both food and design.